Last week’s article demonstrated that it is impossible to arrive at a fixed
universal ethic apart from God. Even Adam was not autonomous prior
to the fall. To suggest that Adam was capable of arriving at a true
definition of right and wrong apart from God is to excuse his behavior.
Indeed, it is to say that Adam’s action was a work of self emancipation,
a ground-breaking act that set him free from the parochial morality of
God’s law. However, the truth is very different. Adam rejected
right and wrong as defined by the Creator and so laid the groundwork for
every subsequent attempt to define law independently of God. Thus,
natural law theory is nothing more then rebellion against God.
History tells us that godless law eventually ends in an ethic of “might
makes right.” This sort of morality is whatever the one with the
biggest stick says it is. Although we like to believe we are a long
way from that predicament the facts say otherwise. Consider the State
sanctioned mass murder of babies in this nation since 1973.
Another example of “big stick morality” is provided by a New Hampshire
court ruling earlier this month; district court judge Lucinda V. Sadler,
ordered 10-year-old home schooled Amanda Kurowski to attend the local public
school because in her opinion the girl’s “vigorous defense of her religious
beliefs ... suggests strongly that she has not had the opportunity to seriously
consider any other point of view." In other words, according to the
ethic of might makes right, Amanda’s strong commitment to the Christian
faith is reprehensible and steps must be taken to rectify the situation.
Law divorced from a biblical standard is always free-floating and dependant
upon the whim of the one who has the power to wield it. Remember,
it is never a matter of “law vs. no law” but “whose law?” A nation
that looks to man’s law as its standard of right and wrong will eventually
end in tyranny.
How then may we move toward the freedom and security of a society ordered
according to biblical law? Are we to adopt the strategy of the ungodly
and impose morality on people through a top down bureaucracy? Obviously
not.
As I have mentioned in previous articles, biblical principles work
their effect in the community from the bottom up. God’s Word becomes
the standard of right and wrong in a society as individuals come to a saving
knowledge of Jesus Christ and began to work out their salvation according
to the biblical blueprint.
Neighborhoods, cities, states and nation’s change as individual believers
bring their arena of responsibility under the authority of Jesus Christ.
As more and more people come into the kingdom, these spheres of influence
began to overlap and the salvific effect of the kingdom becomes evident
on a broad scale. According to the Bible, a majority of the world’s
population will one day confess Christ (Isaiah 2:1-4, 11:9, Ezekiel 47:1-12
etc.), and come to the conclusion that what works for the Individual, the
Family and the Church will work for the State as well. In other words,
since the Bible provides blueprints for all of the primary institutions
- including the State- then those blueprints should be implemented for
all the primary institutions - including the State.
In the mean time our job is to live a life that is pleasing to Jesus
Christ. We must do our best to demonstrate His lordship in all that
we do. We must bring our thoughts, our words, our family, our work,
our voting habits, our recreation, and our political action - everything
– under the rule of the Messiah. The results are up to Him.